As I've written earlier, the reaction from some people that this week's US Preventive Services Task Force recommendations were "surprising" or "coming out of nowhere" are themselves surprising. Anyone - certainly any informed health care consumer and certainly any journalist- should have known that the uncertainties surrounding mammography have been debated for decades.
There's a nice summary of the history by Charles Bankhead of MedPageToday.com.
Here is David Rind's take on this:
http://www.evidenceinmedicine.org/2009/11/uspstf-mammography-and-grading-recommendations.html
Here is even a better piece about the history of breast cancer and mammography. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/20/opinion/20aronowitz.html?_r=1